Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

IMPALEMENT

Driving of a pointed stake into a human body. It was apparently practiced in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and possibly also in Israel. There are, however, many problems in understanding the exact nature of impalement and what it means in individual OT passages.

It is not always clear from documents written in Greek whether impalement or crucifixion is being described, since the same Greek word could refer to either procedure. (In crucifixion the body is fastened to a stake rather than being punctured by it.) Nor is it always clear whether the impalement is done to a living body or to a corpse. Probably both types of impalement were employed—the former as a method of execution, the latter as a means of exposing the corpse to the elements, beasts, and general disgrace. Furthermore, it is not clear to what extent “hanging” in the OT refers to impalement. Perhaps the fact that it is typically used with the preposition “on” (rather than “from”) indicates that impalement of some kind is intended.

Some light is shed on the nature of impalement through Mesopotamian sources, where it was apparently a means of execution, in one case for a woman who had caused her husband’s death because of another man (Code of Hammurabi 153), in another for a woman performing an abortion on herself (Middle Assyrian Laws 53). The latter law makes it clear that the woman should be impaled whether or not she lived through the abortion. The claim of Assyrian kings to have hung captives of war on stakes correlates with the portrayal in Assyrian art of battle scenes where impaled bodies can be seen. The stake could be pushed up into the chest, with the body resting facedown, or between the legs, with the body upright.

Darius’s provision in Ezra 6:11 for the punishment of violators of his decree that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt may refer to impalement. If the expression “hang on a tree [stake]” (Gn 40:19; Dt 21:22; Jos 8:29; 10:26; Est 2:23) refers to impalement, at least sometimes it is clear that it was a corpse being impaled (Jos 10:26). This interpretation also applies to Deuteronomy 21:22, in which the victim is first put to death and then “hung.” The point of similarity to the crucifixion of Christ (Gal 3:13) is the disgrace involved and not the precise form of treatment. Other possible examples of impalement are found in 2 Samuel 4:12 and 21:6-13.